Jim Grossman

Executive Director

James Grossman is Executive Director of the American Historical Association. Formerly Vice President for Research and Education at the Newberry Library, he has taught at the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration and A Chance to Make Good: African-Americans, 1900-1929, and project director and coeditor of The Encyclopedia of Chicago (2005; online edition, 2006).

Dana Schaffer

Deputy Director

Dana oversees the internal operations of the Association including membership, finance, meetings, development, marketing, and awards. She is secretary to the AHA Council and occasionally coordinates AHA initiatives. Dana serves as the chair to the Advisory Council for National History Day. Prior to joining the AHA staff in February 2013, Dana served as the assistant director at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University, where she planned and directed public and academic programs and initiatives. Dana holds a BA in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA in public history from American University.

Kritika Agarwal

Managing Editor, Perspectives on History

Kritika is the managing editor of Perspectives on History. An Asian Americanist, Kritika comes to the AHA from the University at Buffalo, SUNY (UB), where she completed her PhD in American studies. In her role at the AHA, Kritika writes and edits articles for Perspectives on History and Perspectives Daily. Follow her on Twitter @kritikaldesi.

Julia Brookins

Special Projects Coordinator

Julia Brookins joined the AHA in November 2010. She directs the nationwide AHA Tuning Project, serves on the editorial board of Perspectives on History, and is part of the team that develops initiatives to advance history in education and public life. She also helps with analysis and communication about data on the history discipline. She received her undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University and a PhD in US history from the University of Chicago, with a focus on immigration and citizenship in the Southwest.

Megan Connor

Program Associate

Megan is the Program Associate for the AHA. Megan provides support for the Teaching and Professional Divisions and works closely with the academic and professional affairs staff. Additionally, she provides assistance for special projects and events. She received a BA in History and Women's and Gender Studies from the University of Mary Washington in 2017, where she focused on women in early modern Europe.

Seth Denbo

Director of Scholarly Communication and Digital Initiatives

Seth oversees the publications department of the AHA and is primary staff for the Association's Research Division. He is working to develop innovative digital projects to enhance the organization’s mission. He earned his PhD from the University of Warwick and is a cultural historian of 18th-century Britain. He has taught British history in universities in both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has also worked on digital projects at Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at UMD and the Department for Digital Humanities at King’s College London.

Debbie Ann Doyle

Meetings Manager

Debbie oversees many the annual meeting, including editing the program and staffing the Program Committee, Local Arrangements Committee, and Council Committee on the Annual Meeting. She also staffs the Committee on Gender Equity, the Committee on LGBTQ History and Historians, and the Advisory Committee on Disability. She is a member of the in-house editorial board for Perspectives on History. Debbie received her BA in history from Clark University, an MA from American University, and a PhD in American history from American University.

Michelle Hewitt

Membership Assistant Manager

Michelle is the Membership Assistant Manager. She handles day to day processing of membership and subscription dues. In addition, she assists with special projects and annual meeting registration. Michelle received her BS in Management Studies with a concentration in Human Resource Management from UMUC.

Zoe Jackson

Editorial Assistant

Zoë Jackson is the editorial assistant for the AHA. Zoë supports the publications department, the Research Division, and helps with other projects. Zoë received a BA in history in May 2016 from Cornell University, where she focused on early modern English history.

Katie Kaefer

Marketing Manager

Katie is the Marketing Manager for the AHA. Katie promotes the AHA’s programs, initiatives, activities, and publications while developing, implementing, and coordinating the Association’s marketing and branding strategies.

Matthew Keough

Archives and Office Assistant

Matthew received a BA in history, summa cum laude, from Providence College in May 2006 and a MA in history from George Mason University in May 2014. He is currently the archives and office assistant and has been a member of the AHA staff since December 2008. Matthew responds to general inquiries, coordinates daily office needs, and organizes the AHA institutional records for archival purposes.

Elyse Martin

Associate Editor, Web Content and Social Media

Elyse edits content for the AHA website and maintains the AHA's social media presence. Prior to joining the AHA staff in Feburary 2018, Elyse worked for the Folger Institute, at the Folger Shakespeare Library, where she provided logistical support for advanced scholarly programming. She received her BA in French Studies and Comparative Literature from Smith College. Though she has spent the past few years as an early modernist and a book historian, she has special interests in the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and Romanticism. Follow her on Twitter: @champs_elyse.

Victor Medina Del Toro

Meetings and Executive Assistant

Victor is the Meetings and Executive Assistant for the AHA. Victor assists with the Annual Meeting, Committee Meetings, and other executive projects. He is also the Chair of the Annual Meeting Undergraduate Working Group. Victor graduated from Haverford College in May 2017 with a B.A. in History and is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime.

Allison Miller

Editor, Perspectives on History

Allison Miller earned her PhD in history from Rutgers University - New Brunswick and for two years held a Mellon postdoctoral teaching fellowship at the University of Southern California. She is the author of "Am I Normal? American Vernacular Psychology and the Tomboy Body, 1900-1940," published in Representations (Spring 2013). Before entering graduate school, she worked in magazine publishing, with staff positions at Lingua Franca, Paper, and Cosmo Girl. She became editor of Perspectives on History in June 2015.

Devon Reich

Operations and Marketing Assistant

Devon assists with the AHA's marketing and membership campaigns, coordinates the AHA's grant, prize,and fellowship programs, and supports the office's operations. Devon earned her BA in History from The Ohio State University in May 2018 while also pursuing interests in bioarchaeological research and anthropology. She participated in the excavation of a 13th century Irish monastery. Devon is particularly interested in the cross-cultural exchange and competition between early modern empires.

Dylan Ruediger

Coordinator, Career Diversity for Historians and Institutional Research

Dylan is the Coordinator of Career Diversity for Historians and Institutional Research, and also serves on the editorial board of Perspectives on History. He comes to the AHA from Georgia State University, where he recently completed a PhD in Early American and Native American history, focusing on Native American political relationships in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century Virginia.

Emily Swafford

Director of Academic and Professional Affairs

Emily Swafford joined the AHA in September 2014. She directs several grant-funded projects, including the AHA's Career Diversity for Historians and History Gateways initiatives. As part of staffing the AHA Teaching and Professional Divisions, she works on issues of graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 education as well as professional concerns of historians. She earned a BA in history and American studies at the University of Virginia and her PhD in 20th-century US history at the University of Chicago. She is a historian of the US military, US foreign relations, and women's and gender history.

Liz Townsend

Manager, Data Administration and Integrity

Liz started working at the AHA in 1991 as editorial assistant for the Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians. She now oversees the AHA Career Center; staffs the Committee on Committees and the Nominating Committee; oversees the election of AHA officers; and manages the annual meeting Registration and Job Center. Liz also edits and maintains professional data in the AHA’s membership records and directories.